Mincon Group has acquired Vancouver-based Pacific Bit. The Canadian outfit distributes mining and construction products in Western Canada with reported sales for last year of C$5.5m (€3.6m).

Mincon will keep the long-established Pacific Bit team in place to develop the business in tandem with Mincon’s North American team.

A Mincon statement stated: “We believe this is an important building block in developing the group sales into the Canadian market with an excellent local team“.

Mincon also noted it is prepared to discuss acquisitions, partnerships and investments with other businesses in the region. In early 2018, Shannon-based Mincon acquired the Swedish drilling production outfit Driconeq and reported a 19% increase in revenue in half-one 2018. Profit before tax for the six month period was up 24pc to more than €7.8m.

Mincon joined the Geoscience Ireland business cluster in 2017 and now has offices in 15 countries across five continents.